Upgrade of an Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) System to Establish a Center for State-of-the-Art Microstructural Analyses

该合同将资助马萨诸塞州伍兹霍尔海洋生物实验室(MBL)电子背向散射衍射系统的升级。升级后的系统将促进对地球材料微观性质的尖端研究，促进MBL和伍兹霍尔海洋研究所(WHOI)之间的合作，并将WHOI/MBL建立为最先进的电子背散射衍射分析的区域中心。电子背向散射衍射对于研究岩石、矿物、金属和生物矿物的结构和组成已被证明是非常宝贵的。升级后的仪器将成为首席调查员研究计划的核心组成部分，他是世界卫生组织的一名新的初级教员。大量的地球动力学现象源于岩石和矿物的埃到厘米尺度的蠕变。为了了解地球内部的动力学，电子背散射衍射通常被用来量化晶格的择优取向、颗粒大小、错误取向和矿物相分布，从而检验变形岩石的微观力学性质。同样，生物矿化、珊瑚礁生长、火山喷发动力学、岩浆流动、陨石形成和撞击变质作用也可以从对地球和行星物质的电子背散射衍射分析中收集到。在材料科学和工程领域，最近的技术创新使基于电子背向散射衍射的方法有了显著的改进。该奖项将支持对尖端电子背向散射衍射设备的升级和采购，包括：1)一个基于CMOS的电子背向散射衍射探测器，能够每秒收集3000个数据点；2)一个软件许可证，用于高角分辨率(HR-)电子背向散射衍射分析；以及3)用于高空间分辨率透射菊口衍射(TKD)分析的样品座。

This award will fund the upgrade of an electron backscatter diffraction system housed at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, MA. The upgraded system will facilitate cutting-edge research into the microscopic properties of Earth materials, foster collaboration among MBL and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and establish WHOI/MBL as a regional center for state-of-the-art electron backscatter diffraction analyses. Electron backscatter diffraction has proven invaluable for examining the structure and composition of rocks, minerals, metals, and biominerals. The upgraded instrumentation will form a core component in the research program of the principle investigator, who is a new junior faculty member at WHOI.Numerous geodynamic phenomena arise from the angstrom-to centimeter-scale creep of rocks and minerals. To understand Earth’s interior dynamics, electron backscatter diffraction is routinely used to quantify lattice preferred orientations, grain sizes, mis-orientations, and mineral phase distributions, and thereby examine the micro-mechanical properties of deformed rocks. Equally, insights into biomineralization, coral reef growth, volcanic eruption dynamics, magma flow, meteorite formation, and impact metamorphism may be gleaned from electron backscatter diffraction analyses of Earth and planetary materials. Within the fields of materials science and engineering, recent technological innovations have afforded remarkable improvements in electron backscatter diffraction-based methods. This award will support the upgrade and acquisition of cutting-edge electron backscatter diffraction equipment, including: 1) a CMOS-based electron backscatter diffraction detector, capable of collecting 3000 data points per second; 2) a software license to enable high-angular-resolution (HR-) electron backscatter diffraction analyses; and 3) sample holders for high-spatial-resolution Transmission Kikuchi Diffraction (TKD) analyses.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.